To Suki59
by Sookie's Secret Santa
Summary: Love from Sookie's Secret Santa xXx


_Any author's notes from the person who wrote this gift fic have been removed to prevent any identifying information being revealed. The individual author can post this story to their own profile, complete with intended A/Ns, after the 26th December. We hope this gift fic is enjoyed by all – but mostly for the person it was written for. Thank you to this author for taking part in the first Sookie's Secret Santa fic exchange. Due to the number of participants it will be impossible to post all of the stories in one day - don't worry, everyone will get their gift before Christmas Eve :o)_

_Santa's little helpers_

_Blakes Boogie & Jan of Arc xx_

**GUMBO NIGHT**

**To: Suki59**

_Vic's Redneck Roadhouse has been pulling more and more business away from Merlotte's. Terry suggests a gumbo cook off to drum up business and it works. Sookie's grateful because being busy is something she desperately needs to keep her mind off the fact that Eric's been gone for almost two weeks and she hasn't seen or heard from him the entire time._

A gumbo cook off was a good idea. With Vic's sucking away business and the whole shifter reveal thing, Merlotte's was struggling. But tonight it was packed. Yeah, folks might not be ordering a lot of food, but they were drinking. It had only been a couple of hours but I'd gotten more tips tonight than I'd gotten in the last week, and I sure was grateful. I'm a big believer in hard work and I hate being here and doing nothing. You can only wipe down salt and pepper shakers so many times.

I love it when it's busy. Not only does it mean my co-workers and I are having a good night, it also means that I can easier tune out everybody's thoughts instead of concentrating with all my might to not listen folks like Andy, worrying about work, his gut, or whether Holly's ass was gonna get big. Jerk. Tonight, it was all pretty much a buzzing din of bees. Every now and then a thought would pop out - "Holy SHIT that's hot!" or "Woo, too much cayenne!" Those people I hone in to see if they need another beer. They do.

"How's it goin' tonight, Ray?"

"Mighty fine, Sookie, mighty fine. There's some damn good gumbo here tonight."

"I know! I took a little taste of Terry's and I could have sworn I was in heaven! You need another beer? How about some potato salad?"

"Sounds good, Sookie, yeah. Gimme one of them tall boys."

"Will do. I'll be right back."

Besides keeping me on my toes, being busy also kept me from thinking about Eric. Well, mostly. Here I am, thinking about him now. I haven't seen or heard from him in almost two weeks. Victor has been putting so many demands on him, and I know he's worried about that snake doing us in. Just the thought of Victor made me slam Ray's beer on the bar so hard that Sam looked at me sharply.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, sorry. Slipped."

He looked at me like he didn't believe me, but thankfully he let it go. I didn't want to deal with Sam's pitying talk tonight. I'd been pitying myself enough for both of us lately.

I looked up, and Bill was walking in the front door with Judith at his side. I motioned them to come over to two empty seats at the bar and I took Ray his beer and potato salad. When I came back, Sam had already gotten them both TruBloods.

"How are y'all tonight?"

"Good." Bill looked around. "You're busy."

"Yes, thank the Lord. We're having a gumbo cook off tonight. Terry's idea. They do it at the VFW every year and he thought it might be a good idea to do it here, too, to bring in some business. Vic's is getting all of it around here."

Judith nodded. "Yes, I've been to Vic's a few times. Different atmosphere than here. Of course, it would, with Victor owning it."

My mouth tightened up. I started wiping down the counter with a vengeance.

Bill said, "He's making all of us do more and more time there. Eric and Pam are basically running Fangtasia by themselves."

I kept my eyes on the rag. "How is Eric?"

"You haven't seen him?"

I scrubbed harder. "It's been a couple of weeks."

"Oh." The pity in Bill's tone was undeniable. I was so TIRED of being pitied! I slapped down the rag and was about go check on table five when Judith said, "The last time I saw Eric, he was auditioning new dancers for Fangtasia. Apparently all his other girls went to work at Vic's." I stopped and gaped at her. She was drinking from her TruBlood, oblivious to my stare. Bill, however, had that look I knew all too well. Smug and just a tinge too happy to see me mad at Eric. Damn if I was going to ask her when it was that she saw him. I stalked off, and avoided talking to them for the rest of the night. I was glad when they left.

By the time I made it out the door, I was bone tired, but satisfied with my earnings. It took longer than normal to close up that night. It had been so long since we'd been truly busy that we'd all gotten rusty. It was close to two when I pulled up into my driveway.

A quick check of my caller ID had my hopes dashed, again, of having a message from Eric. Damn him! And damn me for being so hung up on whether or not he called. I know he was pissed about the whole bond breaking thing but I thought we'd gotten past that. The thought of exactly how we'd gotten past it got me worked up in a different way, and I sighed, wondering when that would ever happen again. Humph. Felt like never at this rate, and Eric was probably getting his jollies off 'auditioning' strippers at Fangtasia. I hope they were all ugly.

I sat down and took off my sneakers, sighing at how good it felt. I padded over to my bedroom and stripped off my clothes, tossing them in the hamper. I washed up in the bathroom and slowly rubbed a hand towel up and down my face. It felt so good, and I was so tired. I still had my eyes closed when I heard, "Hello lover."

I squealed and jumped back like a foot. Eric was standing in the door frame, smiling at me. "Damnit, Eric, you scared the bejeezus out of me!"

He chuckled. "I'm sorry, truly. I didn't mean to startle you. I was enjoying the sight of you and didn't think to let you know I was here."

I grabbed my robe off the hook and stomped past him. God, he smelled good. "Well, next time give me a little warning or something. I could have fallen and busted my head open," I bit out, jerking on my robe.

"Ah, Sookie, I apologize." He pulled me to him from behind, his arms wrapped underneath my breasts, his chin resting on my head. He breathed deeply. "I missed you."

Oh, I missed him, too. I leaned into him, just a bit, until I remembered that it had been almost two weeks since I'd heard one word from him. I pulled away. "You sure have a funny way of showing it."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

Anger spilled over my skin. "What do I mean? You don't speak to me for two weeks and you wonder why I question if you missed me?" I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my foot, waiting to hear whatever pitiful excuse was going to come out of his mouth.

He looked at me like he'd never seen me before. "You didn't get any of my messages." He made it a question.

"No, not one. What, you left me messages? My answering machine works. I checked." To my shame, I had, a couple days ago. I swear I was acting like a teenager.

"No, I didn't leave messages on your phone. I told Pam to tell you I was away, that I missed you, and when I was returning. Are you telling me that she did not do this?"

"No, she didn't," I said, surprised. "Why wouldn't she?"

"I don't know," Eric said, his voice hard.

"Is she okay? Have you seen her?"

"Yes, I have seen her and she is okay. For now." He looked away when he said it, anger lining his face. Then he sighed and walked to me.

"Come here, lover. Apparently there has been some sort of miscommunication. I have been out of state and was not able to use my phone. I told Pam to tell you how I was and that I would see you soon, but apparently she neglected to do so." His mouth hardened. "She will hear from me about this." He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. He smelled so good and felt so good, and I'd missed him sooo much. I wrapped my arms around his waist and laid my head against his chest. I sighed, "Where have you been?"

"Oklahoma," he answered, kissing the top of my head and rubbing his cheek in my hair.

"Oklahoma?" I asked. "What were you doing there?"

"Business. But it's late and I haven't seen my wife in much too long. I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk at all," he said, leaning down to cup my chin and pull my face to his. The touch of his mouth on mine was electrifying. I gasped into his mouth and he crushed me to him, kissing me with such passion it tilted my head back. I was done talking, too.

Eric swept away the sash of my robe and it fell open. He groaned and cupped my breasts, taking his lips away from mine to kiss and suck and lick me from neck to navel, his fingers finding me, moving in and out. I dug my fingers hard into his shoulders; I could barely stand from needing him. "Eric. Please," I panted. Next I was on the bed, Eric on top of me. He lifted up to take off his shirt and I said, "No. No, no more waiting. I need you now!" He moaned and kissed me ferociously, one hand under my neck, the other pulling at his pants. Two seconds later he filled me, and we both hollered out. Eric's head fell back and he pounded into me. I wrapped my legs around his waist and gave him all that I had. It wasn't long before I felt the rush of heat climbing up my body and I screamed, coming in violent waves. Eric bellowed out in his native tongue and I felt him pour into me. We came together for what felt like ages. He fell on top of me, and we clung to each other, panting and sweating. I kissed his neck and he rolled over to his side, pulling me with him. I laid one leg over his hip, half covered with his pants, and he lazily rubbed up and down my thigh, his eyes closed. I snuggled in the crook of his neck.

"Are you hungry?"

"For you," he said softly, running his hand up my thigh past my waist until he splayed his hand over my breast.

"Drink." I pulled away to give him my neck.

"Not yet," he said, bringing my head back to his chest, wrapping both arms around me and squeezing me hard. He sighed. "I love you."

A lump came to my throat. "I love you, too," I said thickly. "I'm sorry Pam didn't give me the messages." I squeezed him back. "I missed you so much."

"And I missed you, too, Sookie. More than you know. I don't like to be away from you."

"Then don't," I said, settling in to his hold, content.

"I won't," he whispered, and we lay there quietly until I fell into sleep, feeling happy at last. Top of Form

Bottom of Form


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